The first was on LAN, a short 35 minute flight over the Andes to Santiago Chile. I spent a few hours in the Admirals Club. American has two flights a day to Santiago and they have a big Admirals Club. With all there daily flights to and from Orlando, we have nothing.
I then recrossed the Andes to return to Buenos Aires in about two hours. Both flights were in all coach aircraft. After a five hour wait, again in the Admirals Club, I boarded American's 777 flight to JFK. It was so nice to be in a first class seat. After a good dinner I slept most of the way to NYC.
I changed terminals and had some great champagne and food in the BA first class lounge. Most other foreign airlines put AA's lounges to shame. I updated my blog with the use of their computers. It took almost two hours to upload my pictures of Argentina .
When I boarded my Cathay Pacific flight to Hong Kong, the flight attendant escorted me to my seat and introduced me to the other flight attendants. They always referred to me by name for the 15 hour journey. The service and food were exquisite. No comparison to AA. Cathay was pure luxury. I started with champagne and freshly made eggs. The orange juice was fresh squeezed. I watched a movie (one of four) before trying to sleep. It is tricky when your body isn't prepared to sleep. After my nap I watched some more movies, drank 17 year old single malt whiskey, ate fine chocolates and enjoyed the flight with the other five first class passengers.
For lunch I had steak followed by lobster. I hope they have it on the return flight. We then started our landing into Hong Kong. I've been here before and the best way into town was the express train. I was glad to see my 19th floor hotel room with a nice view over Kowloon Park.
I had four overcast dreary days in one of my favorite cities. At least I wouldn't be upset at not seeing the sights. I was tempted to use old sunny photos, but the weather isn't perfect everywhere. The first day was to recover from traveling. Dinner was a meager won ton soup. I usually stayed in my hotel and read in the mornings. Most afternoons the rain stopped so I could wander. You cannot believe the number of high end malls there are. There are brands I never heard of and definitely no bargains.
A colorful ferry.
I did a few new things while there. I visited Kowloon Park, a small but interesting park in the middle of bustling Kowloon. There was an aviary and some interesting sculptures and exhibits. All the custom tailors are now from India and I was constantly accosted. The were also hawking fake Rolex and other luxury watches. So I gave in and went with one guy to the shop, where I saw their catalog of real fake watches. I tried a Rolex and a Rado. Both felt and looked real. He even pointed out the fake serial number. I was offered a one year replacement guarantee and a ten tear warranty. Of course I would have to fly back to HK for this service and I'm sure the hole in the wall would be long gone. I left, while others bought. The watches I saw started at US$180 and came down to $100. I'm sure he would have gone lower - for a knock off.
One of the many high rise apartments. They are all narrow. I would be afraid in a hurricane.
This is a sculpture of rice dishes.
Another monster high rise office building.
I then walked to the Star Ferry for a ride to Hong Kong Island. The ride out was HK$2.50 or about 35 cents. This was on the upper deck, which I have always taken. On the return I took the lower deck for only HK$2.00, not a great discount, but the ride was identical. There was a big Holland America cruise ship docked in Kowloon for two days.
I saw the cute trams but decided to head home before the rain started. I walked through another endless mall of expensive stores. And the people were shopping big time. I checked out an outlet store with prices 70% off - still too rich for me, but then I really don't need anything.
The lights at night are beautiful and amazing.
Food is always an adventure here. Not all the restaurants serve the same dishes like in the USA or the UK. You don't always know what you ordered. I had won tons in hot and sour soup. The won tons were fine but the soup was too spicy and sprinkled with cilantro, which I hate. One night I had shrimp dumplings. The shrimp could be seen through the rice skin - head and shell. Needless to say I only had a few. One day I had excellent dim sum, but I had lunch with a local who knew what westerners like. On my last day I found a supermarket that outshines Whole Foods or Fresh Market. I bought a bagel with lox and avocado.
On my final night I went to the Temple Street Night Market. The sell mainly junk but I did have an excellent dinner of stir fried jumbo shrimp. It was spicy but not too hot. During the daytime I wandered through an endless high class mall. Where do these people get the money?
At the Hong Kong Airport I couldn't resist getting Popeye's Chicken. In a few hours I'm off to a new country - Sri Lanka.
